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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22833835">Future</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425'>Jen425</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>If We Only Had The Time [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Super Sentai Series, Tokusatsu, 快盗戦隊ルパンレンジャー VS 警察戦隊パトレンジャー | Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Complicated Relationships, Developing Relationship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Getting Together, Multi, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, all these tags I’ve wanted to use, backround W Red and Noel/Tooma/Aya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:48:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,831</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22833835</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Future: going or likely to happen or exist.</p><p>——•——</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Sometimes she talks to the sky and to people who aren’t there.</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>“I know you can’t hear me,” she says. “We aren’t even under the same sky. I just… I hope you won.”</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>And she thinks but I almost wish you’d just killed Dogranio. I got what I wished.</i></p><p> </p><p>  </p><p> </p><p>  <i>Other times she talks to a girl hopefully out past the sky.</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>“I’m sorry I never got to see you again,” she says. “I hope you’re happy.”</i></p><p> </p><p>  </p><p> </p><p>  <i>She wonders, quite often, if it might somehow reach them. She hopes.</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hayami Umika/Ichinose Shiho/Myoujin Tsukasa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>If We Only Had The Time [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>YES! you guys have no idea how much I love this particular chapter. Long. Painful. Complicated. Why is the LuPato ending so fucking STUPID???</p><p>Oh well. I hope you enjoy more not-dates, complicated feelings, and slow burn.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Looking back, there are few, if any, choices that Umika would have made differently. She thinks </span>
  <em>
    <span>what if Shiho hadn’t saved me,</span>
  </em>
  <span> and she imagines their places reversed. She’d still have lost her. She thinks </span>
  <em>
    <span>what if it had never been a choice, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and she realizes she might never have met Kairi or Tooma or Noel or the Patorangers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Never met Tsukasa.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She thinks maybe in another world that…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Umika! Look out!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“And if someone loses an arm, no hard feelings.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…She doesn’t regret a thing, as she stares up at the faux sky and waits for the inevitable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How long?” She asks. “Before they win, now?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not long,” Kairi says, with a laugh to light for their final moments, but aren’t they complete, now? Zamigo is dead; their loved ones are saved. “Kei-Chan, I know… he could make the shot, if any of them could.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We won,” Tooma says, as if realizing it again. “And… that’s all that matters. She’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>safe.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika thinks about throwing their promise into the lake. She doesn’t want them to die… but she’s happy to die beside them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She’s safe</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thinks in agreement, and two different faces flash before her eyes:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Long, loose dark hair against a Pink-and-navy uniform, kind smiles and a secret soft side for stuffed animals and children. A dangerous expression on her face, when they worked together, skilled and confident and in utter disagreement. Letting her go… saying goodbyes…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dark hair in pigtails, matching school uniforms and bright smiles. Beautiful stories in art and words and secret, unsure kisses where they suspected no one would find them and the joy of success, before…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No, she wouldn’t change much. Except, perhaps, for the inevitable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She lays down with her team, her broken chosen family… and she waits.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing comes, for a very long time. They’re most likely going to spend their lives here.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes she talks to the sky and to people who aren’t there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know you can’t hear me,” she says. “We aren’t even under the same sky. I just… I hope you won.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she thinks </span>
  <em>
    <span>but I almost wish you’d just killed Dogranio. I got what I wished.</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Other times she talks to a girl hopefully out past the sky.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I never got to see you again,” she says. “I hope you’re happy.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>She wonders, quite often, if it might somehow reach them. She hopes.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>And then the unexpected perfect ending appears.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiho leans into her side, as they sit on the edge of some high-up rooftop, catching up to each other in pieces. They could never do it all in one night, and Shiho has heard plenty of stories already, from Noel or from Tsukasa.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nonetheless, things fall mostly into place, very quickly. Almost as if nothing has changed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And yet everything has, or they wouldn’t have to sit in the exaggerated Black-and-Yellow costumes of two phantom thieves.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad I had Tsukasa, though,” Shiho says. “I never feel alone or in pieces, not around her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know what you mean,” she says. “We always understood each other, whether I was Umika or Lupin Yellow, and I could even talk to her about you, just a bit… I missed her more than anyone </span>
  <em>
    <span>except</span>
  </em>
  <span> you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho smiles back, but it’s implacably brittle and </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So does she,” she says. Umika fake-glares at her girlfriend. Shiho just shakes her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s nothing,” she says. “Now what about the time where you…”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Umika stands, as always, a little behind and to the left of Kairi as they reintroduce themselves. They have, in fact, been back for a month already, but they’ve been planning their big return. And Noel had returned to the police a week ago, even if he was currently occupied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Admittedly, the Patorangers coming for their target on the same day was unexpected, but it certainly made some things easier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ridiculous thing is that they thought they would stop being thieves - there are literally seven pieces of the Lupin Collection in the room right now that belong with Noel and Kogure!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The ensuing fight is in fact comforting in its familiarity. Ganglers and Pordermen. Police Officers. Fight the Ganglers, dodge the Patorangers’ attacks but know they’ll watch your back for moments.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At one point, they end up facing off and then re-organizing, so that Umika is intermittently back to back with and facing off </span>
  <em>
    <span>against</span>
  </em>
  <span> Tsukasa.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could have waited a few months,” Tsukasa quips, shooting a blast which Umika dodges and watches his a Porderman. “We only need these until the Gangler Remnants are gone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika uses Tsukasa’s back as a springboard to leap back up on the balcony and then shoots three of the Porderman around her before flipping down again to avoid fire from where Tooma and Sakuya are. She shoots the remaining four nearby Pordermen and walks directly up to Tsukasa.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you’d give them to us then?” She asks, looking the officer straight in the eyes through two layers of helmet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa stares right back, and, for a very long moment, neither moves. Although, distantly, Umika can hear finishers from Kairi and Keiichiro’s attacks and the Gangler’s cry as it died. All of the fighting begins to die down, after that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika blinks as Tsukasa finally replies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We would return them to their rightful owner,” Tsukasa begins.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“To Noel,” Sakuya adds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Umika doesn’t bother to suppress her smile under her helmet at how close Kairi and Keiichiro are standing when Keiichiro finishes. “He had someone to save, too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It sounds almost too good to be true.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Because it is.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We still won’t stop being thieves,” Tooma says, calmly. They’d spoken of this, the past month. The way that Shori and Shiho and… well, not as much, oddly enough, but even Aya… they were all perfectly happy to move on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika has dreams and goals and her girlfriend and her </span>
  <em>
    <span>life</span>
  </em>
  <span> back, but she knows she won’t ever stop being Lupin Yellow, not after three years of training and fighting and then waiting without any real hope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At some point, being a phantom thief became more than a means to an end. It became a full part of her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Might</span>
  </em>
  <span> stop stealing, though,” Umika adds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So what are you going to do, Officers?” Kairi finishes.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>They make their escape before it comes to a choice.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s surprisingly easy to go back to normal in all but name, after that. Oh yes, they’re still fighting the Patorangers. They do need their pieces of the Collection after all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But for some reason it doesn’t feel as urgent anymore, not really.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The new game becomes “Fight Gangler Remnants to speed up the process of the Patorangers’ promise, avoid arrest, and attempt to get the Patorangers’ pieces of the Collection the fast way if possible.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other half becomes visiting them in civilian form and enjoying the way they never report it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noel and Kogure-san still own the Bistro Jurer building,” Umika comments, sitting in Tsukasa’s windowsill. “I miss working there, in a way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looks at where Tsukasa’s VS Changer and Trigger Machine sit innocently on the table. She could easily grab it right now, if she really wanted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa merely rolls her eyes, offering a far less sweet cup of coffee than her own to Umika, despite it being late in the evening.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I should arrest you,” she says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I should get your treasure,” Umika replies, smirking slightly. “But here we are.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa smiles, something hidden in her gaze, like a regret.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” she says. “…I missed you, Umika.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika can’t help but laugh, at that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So did I,” she admits. “But I had to trust that you were still protecting the world, like a hero.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So are you,” Tsukasa replies, but…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m a thief,” is all Umika can say.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you were still more popular with the public,” Tsukasa says. Umika just shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We were mysterious,” she says. “It’s intriguing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That it definitely was,” she says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika tries not to dwell on the meaning of that, too much.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Tooma and Aya decide to go about their wedding, anyways, even if they only plan to invite the other Lupinrangers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not holding off my wedding longer than three years,” Aya says, and Tooma’s face is what Kairi calls “that weird actually happy look he gives around Aya, Noel, and good cooking” says that he feels the same. “Though we should probably re-plan it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll help,” Umika says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We all will,” Shori adds. Though the logistics will… probably be more complicated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Technically three of them are still outlaws, but, well… the lead officer on their case is in love with one of them. And their base is actually a secret.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got the time, at least,” Kairi adds. “While we’re waiting for Kei-chan and the others to stop being stubborn.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noel hmms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I feel as though I should help,” he says, and there is definitely real sadness in his voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Umika sometimes forgets that he hasn’t regained what he’d lost, yet, that that’s a large reason why they’re here. Other times she forgets that the Patrangers are his team as much as the Lupinrangers are. Some times, like now, both are suddenly brought to the forefront and she feels bad for forgetting.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aya smiles and takes his hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tooma, Umika, and Kairi have it handled,” she says. “I think they’ve done more difficult things.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And we’re all here, now,” Shiho adds, leaning into Umika’s side.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika smiles, but she wonders if it looks as hollow as it feels.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She can’t imagine them “all here” without the police, but </span>
  <em>
    <span>that… </span>
  </em>
  <span>that is still impossible.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would ask if we could come,” Tsukasa says, and they’re sitting in a restaurant that isn’t half as good as Tooma’s cooking, but it’s hidden and the booths are subtle. “But I feel like that’s testing this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This. What they have between them. Umika’s accepted that she loves Tsukasa, of course; she’s not like her teammates, running from emotions until they can forget what they’re running from.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(But this isn’t quite a relationship, she’s with Shiho, like she’d wanted to be again for… three years of fighting and waiting. And somehow despite the time passed they still </span>
  <em>
    <span>worked</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And she didn’t want to mess that up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not everyone met someone who might very well be their soulmate in elementary school, after all.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Fewer met two by age twenty.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Besides,” Tsukasa continues. “I doubt I’m close enough to either of them to be invited.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably,” Umika replies, swirling her straw in her cup. “Tooma’s still Tooma, and Aya is private in her own way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(She doesn’t bring up their sides of the law. That’s testing the borders a bit too much.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Still, I’m grateful,” Tsukasa says. “That you’ve regained your lives and theirs.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika sighs, thinking of the time when things were both simpler and more complex, before she’d taken off her mask.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(A part of her had wished that she could save Shiho and change nothing else in her life, after. Most of her had known it wasn’t likely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Most of her had been right.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not all of it,” she says. “But that’s life, I suppose.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Umika has a feeling Kairi’s spotted her following him, when he goes out to frustrate the officer, in a very different way than a year ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s entertaining watching her teammate and his fellow Red awkwardly not-flirt with each other, but it’s starting to get ridiculous. Because she knows it’s entirely two sided.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But talking to Kairi about his own emotions is </span>
  <em>
    <span>still</span>
  </em>
  <span> like talking to a brick wall, so she decides to cross Keiichiro’s path.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re unofficial amnesty only apply to the phantom thieves you’re in love with?” She asks, face a perfect mask of exaggerated innocence. She has a feeling this conversation will go better with a bit of her Lupin Yellow persona.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(And it really is just so easy to come back to everything, even after a year gone… Which probably means she’s ignoring stuff, but she doesn’t really care.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Keiichiro splutters.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kait— Umika—”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry,” she says. “I’m not here for Patren #1. I’m here for my Red’s crush.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kairi…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is very much in love with you,” Umika replies, waving her finger as she says “and you. Need. To do something. About it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W—what?” Keiichiro asks. Umika rolls her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Stop dancing around my Red,” she says. “That’s his job. He likes you, actually.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She leaves without another word.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Kairi is obvious in a quiet way, a week later. Umika has a feeling something finally changed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t be more happy for him, even with the situation.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Umika?” Shiho asks, about two months after they return. They’re sitting on top of the safe house and in the local security cameras’ largest blind spot because not a one of their odd little family doesn’t enjoy high places, after work and the training required.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(It had been something Umika noticed, after using Tsukasa’s powers. The Lupinrangers flew, dodged, danced. The Patorangers just moved fowards and low to the ground, with no hesitation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s why they’re the heroes,” Kairi had once said, “And we’re the smart ones.”)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes?” Umika asks, wondering why her girlfriend is suddenly so serious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can I tell you something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho nods, letting out a sigh and carefully looking at anywhere but Umika’s face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“IkissedTsukasa,” she says, quick and quiet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” She asks. She… What?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho sighs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I kissed Tsukasa,” she says, slowly turning to face Umika. Her eyes are guilty. “About a month before we found Jackpot Striker.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“…Oh,” is all Umika can say, because how else does she respond to her girlfriend saying she’d kissed the woman Umika had fallen in love with while she’d been gone?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs, because she doesn’t know what to think.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That just about summarizes my thoughts,” she says. “I just…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She doesn’t know what to think.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I need to go.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>She isn’t really looking where she’s going, that’s why it happens.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“O-oh,” she says, turning around. “I’m sorr—”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Umika?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh great.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sa-Sakuya!” Umika manages to stammer out. He’s not smiling, nor is he upset. She hasn’t really spoken to him outside of a fight since returning and she does </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> have the energy for it, right now. “I—”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Umika,” Sakuya says. “I didn’t know you were spoken for.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika lets out a surprised laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W-what?” She asks. “Sakuya… if anyone should apologize, it’s me, for taking advantage of your feelings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sakuya shakeschis head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” he says. “Your disinterest should have been enough for me to stop pursuing you, so… I’m sorry!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika waves her hands in the air. They’ve attracted a growing crowd, by this point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay, really,” she says. “But U… I have to go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(And so what if she ziplines away in civilian clothes? She has no civilian identity to protect anymore, either!)</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>(</span>
  <em>
    <span>God</span>
  </em>
  <span> is she off, right now.)</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Umika is less surprised than she should be, when her team finds her. They’d fought together, they’d grown to know and care about each other long before they’d allowed themselves to admit it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She knows Shiho just as well, so she knows how it all went down, knows that she would likely have gone to Aya, who would have talked to Tooma and Noel. She knows that they wouldn’t come for her unless she was gone for over a day, but here she is.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Here she is, staring out at the stripped space that had been her home for two years. Wondering how her life got to this point where her emotions are roiling for over twenty four hours because her girlfriend had kissed the enemy Umika had fallen in love with.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You do know the Global Police monitor the property, </span>
  <em>
    <span>oui?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Noel asks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jammed the cameras on my way in,” Umika replies, because, yes, she usually relies on her collection pieces, they all do, but they had actually all trained to fight and steal without them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Tsukasa and the others had fought for over a year without even the </span>
  <em>
    <span>option</span>
  </em>
  <span> of leaning on Collection pieces, she definitely doesn’t think.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We saw,” Kairi says, all snark and seriousness in one movement, like he always is in Lupin Red mode. “What are you— what happened?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just realized what a mess we’ve made in all of this,” she says. “With the Police.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The others wait for her to continue. They’re better at communicating now than they were, between the year trapped together and the influence of having their loved ones back, and just those loved ones at all for Noel, but this is simply how they are, she knows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When we were gone,” she says, slowly. “Tsukasa kissed Shiho. And I can’t figure out what to think because I love them both.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a surprising lack of reaction from everyone there, at her words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I could have told you that,” Kairi jokes. “You were as in love with Tsukasa as—”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“As you are with Keiichiro?” Umika asks. That used to shut him up, well, but it doesn’t anymore, because this smile is real instead of just bravado.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, well, he’s yet to arrest me for stealing kisses,” he jokes. Damn it; why did she get them together? “And you go out to see her just as much!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a girlfriend,” Umika says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Exactly,” Tooma responds, surprising her and probably everyone else with his participation in the banter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It also shocks her back to the present and the emptiness of the cleared out Jurer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s empty, now,” Umika says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Kairi replies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Keiichiro had it checked twice more than it needed to be,” Noel says, “after. We all missed you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What… what are we going to do after this?” Umika asks. “After our job is done?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No one has an answer.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The next place Umika visits is Tsukasa’s, that night. Maybe it’s a bad decision - she’s only been there four times. Thrice in visits over the past two months and once with a large Porktato plushie and a recipient.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But she supposes it makes sense, since Tsukasa is part of her whirling thoughts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What she doesn’t expect, however, is for Shiho to be on the roof across from Tsukasa’s apartment, dressed in Lupin Yellow gear and a mask that Umika no longer bothers with.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?” She asks. Shiho shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Watching her,” she replies. “…She loves you, you know. She told me herself, realized it herself, the day I met her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Umika says. She really needs to come up with a better response to the revelations being tossed at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If it helps, I’m sorry,” Shiho says. Umika sighs, and sits down next to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not angry,” she says. “Just… Confused that I’m not.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Shiho says, causing Umika to burst out laughing. She joins in, not a moment later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But what do we do now?” She asks. And Umika… thinks it over, because she </span>
  <em>
    <span>still </span>
  </em>
  <span>doesn’t know.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Give me time,” she says, eventually. “Because I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho smiles, nervously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” she says. “I love you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I love you, too.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>A month later, she still doesn’t know what to do.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“You asked us what comes next.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>And on the last day of Femslash February, here it is! The grand finale.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s easier to focus on distractions than the reality of her complex emotions, Umika thinks, sewing a blue and silver reception dress to perfectly fit Aya.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Much easier, she thinks, nearly nabbing Tsukasa’s VS Changer in a fight but not even considering the theft when she visits Tsukasa’s home two days later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Shiho is spending time with her again, Tsukasa says, but she doesn’t say why.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Doesn’t know that Umika already knows.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Much easier, as she tries to listen to Shiho talk about the finally confirmed serialization of the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Phantom Thieves’ Heart</span>
  </em>
  <span> and how much work it’ll be but isn’t it so impossible that she has this chance, even with a smaller publisher? Because of course Umika is excited and proud but there’s also the truth and the fact that…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That Shiho and Tsukasa had kissed.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Here’s the strangest part: Umika isn’t really jealous in any direction, just upset that she wasn’t there. Upset that they met and fell in love because they’d missed her.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>(“She loves you.”)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“I should arrest you,” Tsukasa says. By this point, almost three and a half months after Umika and her team had been rescued from Dogranio’s safe, it’s become simply a standard greeting, another part of the game.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(And when has this become a game? Because Umika will still fight for Noel’s dream, and Tsukasa will still fight to preserve the weapons she uses to defend the earth. That hasn’t changed, and yet…)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I should take your treasure,” Umika replies. “And yet…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here we are,” Tsukasa finishes. “Is Kairi okay? Keiichiro’s still acting like his old self, so they haven’t met.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“…How do you still have jobs?” Umika asks. Tsukasa merely shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ve yet to fail on a Gangler case,” she says. “Sometimes, we needed to work with criminals to topple a Dimensionally Alien crime syndicate.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That is… not how Tsukasa typically describes it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jurisdictional fights again?” Umika asks. Tsukasa bangs her head against the table.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Too many superheroes,” she says, simply. “You should have seen what Keiichiro was dragged into while you were gone, too, and that was just Sentai!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tsukasa,” she says. “I was a Sentai a year before you became one. I didn’t participate, but we did keep track of team up fights, though we didn’t really care.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa wilts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” she says. Slowly sitting up, she continues. “To be fair, we have an arsonist Gangler Remnant running around with enough intelligence to not need a Collection piece to be almost as dangerous as that one we’d face a year ago.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika shrugs, conceding the point. Besides - it’s not what she’s here to talk about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s been avoiding this conversation for a month and a half now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You kissed Shiho?” She asks, breaking the previously companionable silence. Tsukasa chokes on her drink.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“W—what?” She splutters, Umika hastens to get her a napkin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” she says. “That was a terrible way to start this conversation. I just… I figured you should know. That I know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After the initial surprise, however, it hides under Tsukasa’s usual shell. Far easier to see through than anyone on Umika’s own team, but still painful.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I apologize,” she says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs, awkwardly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m not upset,” she says. “That might be the most confusing part, for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Tsukasa says, as if not expecting such a response. But, to be fair, why would she? “I mean I… At the time… </span>
  <em>
    <span>god</span>
  </em>
  <span>, I didn’t even know if you were </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive </span>
  </em>
  <span>in there, even if I tried not to think about it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know,” she says. “And, if I hadn’t been able to be freed… I’d have wanted you to have each other.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(And she means it with everything in her.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Umika,” she says. “I’m happy you got her back, and that she got you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now it’s Umika’s turn to sigh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not… exactly,” she admits. “After she told me about what happened, I just… things are weird.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Tsukasa says. “Well, they still can’t possibly be any weirder than the two of us, or me with Shiho.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika shrugs. She has a point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s still uncomfortable,” she says. “Because I… I don’t know what to do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa smiles, sadly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I really am sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Noel announces his return to the GSPO not long after.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll miss you,” Tooma says, and, of it weren’t for the words and the tiniest crack of a smile, Umika wouldn’t be able to read the joke. Noel merely smirks, bowing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Worry not,” he replies, exaggeratedly formal. “I shall finally, officially, be closer than ever, </span>
  <em>
    <span>mon bleu</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tooma’s smile lightens, much to Umika’s confusion. Aya, who’s leaning into him like the ridiculously in love couple that they are, laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t wait to meet you again,” Aya says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait, what?</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you know that the Lupin Estate is a legal organization?” Kairi asks. Umika looks up from her phone in surprise, having been about to call Tsukasa from the untraceable number, to see if she was busy the next day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tooma isn’t at the base, instead visiting Aya at her apartment. Shiho and Shori had also both returned to their homes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” She asks. Kairi himself has not looked up, but his Lupin Red smirk is visibly on display.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Half of it’s a cover, of course,” he says. “But yes. Noel sent me the site.” He looks up, still smirking. “Because of you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You asked us what came next,” Kairi says, standing up and walking slowly over, holding out his phone and the website. “I’m a Phantom Thief. This is… well, it’s legal and good intentioned enough for even Kei-Chan, I think.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wouldn’t you working there be a risk?” She asks. Kairi laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now when has being a Phantom Thief ever been a day job?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>(“I love you, too. I was so afraid to tell you, but I do.”)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They say it at the same time. Of course they do. Shiho has been a near-constant (save how they got here) presence in Umika’s life since they were children, so of course they’re in synch with their apologies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho laughs, and Umika joins in a moment later, but…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I should have told you from the start,” Shiho says. “I just… didn’t know how to say it. I don’t…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika shakes her head, raising her arms to help stop Shiho from explaining.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, don’t worry,” she “I don’t… I shouldn’t have been ignoring you half the time and the issue the other half the time for almost two months… and, to be honest, I might have done the same, in your position.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Shiho asks. Umika laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know you’ve heard the amusement park story,” she says. “But you know… I was thinking about how it reminded me of you, but it seemed off, on her…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika just shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s a reason we still tried to keep a little distance with the Patorangers, you know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(It didn’t entirely work, but that was beside the point.)</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“So how exactly do you plan on marrying Tooma when we’re outlaws?” Umika asks. Of course, Aya isn’t. She has a job and an apartment she rarely sleeps in and a cover to keep, something Umika is of course familiar with. But Tooma, just as obviously, had lost his own cover over a year ago!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aya smiles, and there’s something complex in it, that says “I understand you more than you do,” though it seems directed elsewhere, this time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noel, of course,” she says. “I know we’ve mentioned it before.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika stammers.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“N-no,” she says. “I mean… maybe. I’ve been distracted.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can imagine,” Aya says, voice soft. Umika blinks. How does she…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tooma told you,” she says. Aya smiles, stepping out of her wedding dress. (“It should be Blue, I think,” she’d said. “I’ve already adopted his color, after all.”)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noel, actually,” she says. “Tooma said it was your business, but I knew he was worried, so I asked Noel what was worrying him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Umika says, and how often has she said that to this mess of a situation, anyways? “Smart.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aya smirks, putting her work clothes on for the day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They love each other,” she says. “And I love them both enough to know them, even if they’re…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Phantom Thieves?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Guarded,” Aya replies. Umika nods. Wait…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You love… them?” She asks. Aya smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If you want my advice,” she says. “Shiho loves you, but she also was happier and more determined after visiting with Tsukasa. I think you love both of them, too, and I don’t know Tsukasa quite as well… but I can tell you that love? If you love someone, or some</span>
  <em>
    <span>ones</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you can make it work.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(There’s silver in Aya’s reception dresses and kimono.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aya leaves for work, after that, and Umika finds herself with both answers… and more questions.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>She corners Tooma about it because Noel has work that day, and maybe that’s impatient, but, to her credit, her world’s just been tipped off its axis again and that is </span>
  <em>
    <span>incredibly </span>
  </em>
  <span>frustrating to deal with, thank you very much.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But she plans to at least have </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> conversation not be a disaster, unlike with… every other one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even after a year spent around no one but him and Kairi, plus four months of him being slightly more open due to Aya’s return… he still closes up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(But… Umika supposes that she does, too. So do Kairi and Noel, really. She didn’t always, but… it’s been a long few years.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Step one: ask him for help cooking. Let him get focused and be glad she doesn’t have to eat her own terrible cooking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Step two: ask a question that isn’t a blunt mess because how do you even start this conversation?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aya tried on her dresses this morning,” she says, instead. Tooma makes a noncommittal noise, but the tip of a smile escapes the corner of his mouth. She has a feeling that he knows she’s fishing for something, though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad,” he says, because it’s now and not the new Before, the Before the Final Battle. They actually talk to each other now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(It’s still sometimes off-putting, but it is nice.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She also said something that surprised me,” Umika continues. “Any particular reason the wedding is Blue and </span>
  <em>
    <span>Silver and Gold</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tooma pauses for exactly five seconds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” he says, unflinchingly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Umika doesn’t know what to do with his blunt response, so she willingly turns the conversation elsewhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>They tell the whole team, a few days later. Umika can’t help but immediately look at Shiho.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s looking back.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>(“What do we do now?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I don’t know.”)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“She loves you,” Shiho says. “She loves me. So do I. Love you. And her.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So do I,” she says. “But what do we do? Just… ask her out on a date?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That could work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Their first date had been here (though maybe it would have gone smoother if Umika had worked up the nerve to confess </span>
  <em>
    <span>before</span>
  </em>
  <span> they were walking home). So had several others. And it’s the same place where Umika had first spent time with Tsukasa, both alone and (mostly) not playing their roles, first teamed up with her as Lupin Yellow, just the two of them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I don’t know if you understand this, but we’ve already… let too many people fall prey to the Ganglers.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So yes, asking her out on an amusement park date was the perfect choice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure it’s not too topical?” Umika worries. “Or too subtle?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well we should at least see what it’s like when it’s the three of us,” Shiho says, thankfully taking the lead like she usually does, between them. “It’s always been one on one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“True…” Umika says. “Okay. Now which of us asks her?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“So I might be getting a wedding invitation, after all,” Tsukasa says, when Umika opens on the news of Noel’s relationship. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Noel, at least, wasn’t particularly subtle.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In retrospect, not really,” she says. “I take it no one but else knows of his part in our escape?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa shakes her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Believe it or not,” she says, “but I met some of his fellow undercover officers, when I was called to HQ. They’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> like him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“French?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morally ambiguous,” Tsukasa replies. She’s straight faced, but it’s very obviously a joke, and Umika laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I’m not?” She asks. Tsukasa shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re Umika,” she says. “I figure that explains a lot… you know, if you sat down for a hearing, the Superhero Laws would likely protect you from legal consequences, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh, right. She knows that. She’s known since she came back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had just reminded her of all the mess in her life, so she’d never payed attention or thought to it. And kind of forgotten the rest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…” she says, and then she laughs, nervously, because she can’t believe what she’s about to ask, it had taken her month, technically years, with Shiho. “But I did have another reason for coming here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa blinks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When’s your next proper day off?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>All in all, the still-not-a-date goes well, with no monster attacks to go with it, this time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is this really the first time all three of us have been in the same place?” Tsukasa asks. “It certainly doesn’t feel like it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh I agree,” Shiho says, looking pointedly at Umika. Umika nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We should do this again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll see if I can find the time,” she says. “In the meantimes - Shiho, are we still meeting tomorrow?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho nods, and her smile is a bright and excited one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a new idea I wanted to ask you about,” she says. Tsukasa laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hope it’s less shocking than Umika - Sorry, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Mai’s</span>
  </em>
  <span> original design,” she says. What is she talking about?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho just smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ll see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tsukasa?” Shiho asks, holding out her sketchbook. And truly, the design for a character that won’t be introduced for several months… looks a lot like Tsukasa, her uniform somewhere between GSPO’s and a phantom thief’s. Naturally, for the… police officer phantom thief, Heart Thief?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noel might have made your inspiration a bit too obvious,” Umika notes. Shiho shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s not the only reason I based it on her,” she says. “For one, it sure is repetitive that the extra hero is always a guy. A beautiful police officer who doesn’t realize the corruption around her? Far more interesting.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika hmms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I admit, I enjoy your stories,” she says. “They’re original despite your… source material.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shiho smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” she says.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you know how long it takes for the Lupin Collection to grant a wish?” Tsukasa asks. (Technically, this is Patren #3 asking, because they’re both very much in work clothes, fighting grunts while Kairi and Keiichiro head for the Gangler Remnant herself.) There’s a grunt between them that they ignore in favor of shooting over each other’s shoulders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s not quite helping each other, and Umika vaults over the grunt to try and grab the VS Changer and Pink Trigger Machine, to no avail. She has her hands on it, but Tsukasa has her finger on the trigger, knowing that only a shot or two wouldn’t harm Umika through her Sentai form.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A few weeks,” Umika replies, though she knows the exact amount of time by heart, turning her arm so as to form her short range weapon and pushing Tsukasa back with the hook of it. She does stumble back, but she refuses to let go of her own weapon. “Why do you ask?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The slight cock of Tsukasa’s helmet implies a smile in a way deeply familiar to anyone who’s worn a Sentai suit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This,” she says. “Is the first Ganglers Remnant to appear in… over three weeks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>…What? Umika hesitates.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you saying…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa shoots at her, and Umika barely doges.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” she says. “Are you under arrest? Or are you taking my treasure?”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, naturally, Trigger Machine #3 and Patren #3’s VS vehicle are in the hands of its proper owners, as they place them in the book.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Noel’s phone dings.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s from Tsukasa,” he says, looking at it. “It says “congratulations.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika smiles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She means it,” she says. Another ding, and Umika looks over.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It says “I had better get a wedding invitation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>From there, things just sort of spiral to their final conclusion. Kairi leaves for an unknown reason and comes back with Crane, Drill, and Biker. Tooma takes Sakuya’s VS Changer and Trigger Machine in a rather rare occasion, a fight between their two teams without a Gangler Remnant in between.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The most surprising, however, was when Keiichiro explains having asked Comissioner Hilltop to request his gear to be temporarily returned to Noel for “repairs.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So Umika and Kairi and Tooma go to what’s left of their trials, and, well, essentially sacrificing their lives to save people and aiding the Patrangers in their investigation is apparently a good thing? Also, they had essentially been hired out by the Lupin Estate as private investigators (in a supreme actor of irony), so…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The most they get is a very loose, like… community service order, which basically boils down to “if you see a monster, shoot it. If we need someone to shoot a monster, we might call you because you have jets and our Sentai doesn’t.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(She overhears Keiichiro talking about a more permanent position as an advisor and she thinks it might be even more perfect for him.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It really feels like something of a slap on the wrist, but who is Umika to complain?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tooma’s is first, at everyone’s request. He gets out, Noel jokingly complains about having had to make so many wedding plans, and then the two and Aya all grad hands and stare into each other’s eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s ridiculously cute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika feels Shiho’s grip on her own hand tighten.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Arséne Lupin is tall and he wears a white masquerade mask and a fancy yet still movable suit that she doesn’t yet realize isn’t normal dress for him, when he appears before them all. It would be foreboding; it kinda of is, anyways, but then he smiles at Kogure and Noel.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kogure is smiling larger than Umika’s ever seen, and she thinks there might even be tears in his eyes as he gives a small bow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s good to have you back, sir,” he says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Arséne laughs, loud and real, and hugs him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s… an interesting impression.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>They decide to ask Tsukasa on a true, actual date, the day after Umika’s trial.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(They really are hardly trials, all the information had been filled in and decisions reached; they just needed them there to make it official.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And they decide to do it together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“D-dinner?” Tsukasa asks. Umika nods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Noel, Aya, and Tooma got us thinking,” she admits. “Tsukasa, I love you. Shiho loves you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And I know you love us,” Shiho adds. “So… will you go on a date?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa blinks. Stares. And then sighs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let me think about it,” she finally says.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you did ask what we would do after,” Kairi says, as Umika flips the sign of Bistro Jurer go closed for the first time in a year and a half. She laughs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I never thought things would go back to normal,” she admits. “The police even came in!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That had been… slightly awkward. But not as much as expected.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nonetheless.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you glad the day is over?” Tooma asks, as they all begin grabbing the last of the dirty dishes. The worst part about running the place, in Umika’s opinion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They’d been busy as rush hour for… the entire day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(Half of the people there just wanted to see the Phantom Thieves, if Umika is honest. But that’s kind of to be expected.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Like she’d told Tsukasa, people like mysteries. This’ll end.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” she admits. “I didn’t think it would be quite this bad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But it works,” Kairi says. “That’s good enough for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>They choose a circular table mostly out of convenience, but Umika is certainly happy about it because it puts them all together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then… nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This is exceptionally awkward, even for this long and ridiculous chain of events!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So…” Shiho says, as the awkward silence permeates the air. “How’s life?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika can’t help it - she laughs. And she isn’t surprised at all to see Tsukasa and Shiho both join in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” Umika says, exaggeratedly. “And you, Tsukasa?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Tsukasa replies. “And you, Shiho?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great,” Shiho finishes, smiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all laugh again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This is ridiculous,” Tsukasa points out. “It doesn’t even feel like a first date.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika nods in agreement, watches Shiho do the same.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After that, the tension is broken. And it feels like nothing has changed, yet everything has.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well we don’t know Quick Change,” Umika says, helping Aya do exactly that, quickly changing into her third dress, silver cape of ribbons and blue in and of itself. “But this will have to do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Aya hmms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If it’s good for brides of normal people, I suppose it’ll have to do for me,” she says. “Also, word of warming: I plan to throw my bouquet when I leave. Perhaps you should take part.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika freezes, for only a moment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will,” she says, at last. “Perhaps.”</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Tsukasa catches the bouquet with a face or utter confusion. Umika laughs, kissing her, and Shiho follows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I suppose we’re next,” Shiho says.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Give me a year, at least,” Tsukasa replies. “Not that I would mind.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Umika laughs, and all six of their hands are still wrapped around the bouquet. Every one of their teammates are staring, and she doesn’t care.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think,” she says. “That I’ve waited longer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all have. But now…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now they have however long they could want.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita, or @dancingqueen-mai, for just Toku.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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